01-23-2016, 05:57 PM
I emerge from the portal and into the Dunes with a smile. The smile fades as I start to tug at my parka dress's neck, hoping to cool myself off a little. It's warmer than I'd expected, and since I was expecting a desert, that's saying something. It's a little grassy and tree-y - is there a better word than tree-y? - to be a desert here. "Uh, Histy?" I look at my shoulder. "Did we dial the wrong number? Should we leave a message after the--"
Histy sighs. "Now isn't exactly the time for jokes." She adds, "the desert we're looking for is in another area. With about an hour and a half of walking, we should reach the edge of this area. But I sense something here," she continues, "something familiar."
I blink a few times, then look around. "Dreary grassy sort-of-trees place isn't ringing any bells up here, Histy," I respond as I knock on my head with my left hand. "Are you going loopy in the desert without us even being in the desert? Are you sure you're cut out for this?" I joke. She looks like she's about to start saying something, but before she does, her eyes widen. Suddenly I feel something slimy tackle me and knock me over. I yelp as I tumble to the ground - some distance was probably made between Histy and me, but I don't know how much. All I know is she isn't on my shoulder anymore.
I look at my stomach and see a big, light bluish blob of goo. At the front of the blob is a white oval, on which its cute little smile and black nose lie. Above that are two black oval eyes and on top of its head are a pair of circular black ears. A tail which, surprisingly, is also black wags behind it. "A dogoo? Pffffft," I laugh a little, "I could beat the snot outta you with a stick!" I roll over and stand up, knocking the ball of blobbiness off of me and onto the ground. I flip and somersault backwards, making some space between me and my enemy. My opponent, if such laughably weak grind-fodder could even be called that, hops just barely off the ground, as though to indicate the battle starting. I hear some orchestral music start to play on the sidelines. It gets louder, like it's getting closer, then I see Histy approaching me. It's... coming from her? Weird.
"Wait! This is the perfect opportunity for me to teach you a few things!" she shouts, the music continuing to play. "This isn't the world we know," she says. I note that this is probably a recurring theme. "As such, combat is... different. Your abilities have changed more than a bit, so you may find that any strategy different from 'whack enemy with ornate metal' isn't as easy to pull off as it used to be. Would you like me to teach you how to fight here?"
My opponent approaches, ignorant of the oncoming tutorial. "Hey! No cheating!" I shout as I point at the Dogoo. I turn back to Histy and shrug. "Sure, I guess. Couldn't hurt to burn a little time, right?"
Histy floats off to the side of the field again. A picture of my face, looking cheeky and happy, appears in bottom-left corner of my vision. Beside it are two bars: a red and a blue bar, with 20/20 and 2/2 inside each respective bar. "Aw, man! I'm low-tier!" I whine.
"Let's not worry about that for now," she replies. "Those are your HP and SP bars. You're familiar with them - you've had them before, though they were significantly larger. Again, it's not the world we know," she explains. "I won't explain them much because you already know how both of them work. What you don't understand yet is how your equipment and abilities work." Her voice changes and shakes a little. "I know this might sound ridiculous, but I want you to hold out both of your hands in front of you."
I do as she says, with my open palms facing my enemy. "Good," she chimes. "Remember your sword. Focus on it. Even with the limited amount of Shares you have, you should be able to materialize it with the assistance of Omnilium." As she speaks, zeroes and ones spin, shake and disappear in the shape of something like a meter stick before my hands. Before I know it, my katana - the Holy Fang Blade - appears in the air. I catch it before it falls.
"Wonderful!" she calls. "I wouldn't recommend using any skills, as they drain what little of your SP you have very quickly. While your HP bar will likely never increase, your SP will increase as you gain Shares. I can't fight alongside you here quite the same as I could otherwise, but you don't need help with a Dogoo," she explains. "Let the battle begin!"
I draw my blade, discard its sheath and leap into the air. My blade hangs high above my head, waiting to be brought down on the Dogoo that dared knock me down. "Fightin' time!" I cheer and, in a flash, slice clean through the blob of cuteness. It shatters, leaving behind little green zeroes and ones. They float at the point where it fell, seemingly waiting for something. "Experience? I'll, uh, just be taking the ones," I say as I root through the cloud of mostly hollow ovals. When I finish, I quickly summon a new sheath for the Holy Fang Blade on my back, twirl it a few times between my fingers, then slide it into its sheath proudly.
"I can't say I expected a different result," Histy admits from the sidelines as the music she's playing changes yet again. "You may not have gained much from that besides what I told you, but it was an interesting experience. At least your first fight in this world wasn't caused by a snide remark or a silly mistake," she adds.
"First of all, rude," I respond. "Second of all... nah, you're totally right. Onward!" I yell, thrusting my sword to the sky and charging.
Histy sighs. "Now isn't exactly the time for jokes." She adds, "the desert we're looking for is in another area. With about an hour and a half of walking, we should reach the edge of this area. But I sense something here," she continues, "something familiar."
I blink a few times, then look around. "Dreary grassy sort-of-trees place isn't ringing any bells up here, Histy," I respond as I knock on my head with my left hand. "Are you going loopy in the desert without us even being in the desert? Are you sure you're cut out for this?" I joke. She looks like she's about to start saying something, but before she does, her eyes widen. Suddenly I feel something slimy tackle me and knock me over. I yelp as I tumble to the ground - some distance was probably made between Histy and me, but I don't know how much. All I know is she isn't on my shoulder anymore.
I look at my stomach and see a big, light bluish blob of goo. At the front of the blob is a white oval, on which its cute little smile and black nose lie. Above that are two black oval eyes and on top of its head are a pair of circular black ears. A tail which, surprisingly, is also black wags behind it. "A dogoo? Pffffft," I laugh a little, "I could beat the snot outta you with a stick!" I roll over and stand up, knocking the ball of blobbiness off of me and onto the ground. I flip and somersault backwards, making some space between me and my enemy. My opponent, if such laughably weak grind-fodder could even be called that, hops just barely off the ground, as though to indicate the battle starting. I hear some orchestral music start to play on the sidelines. It gets louder, like it's getting closer, then I see Histy approaching me. It's... coming from her? Weird.
"Wait! This is the perfect opportunity for me to teach you a few things!" she shouts, the music continuing to play. "This isn't the world we know," she says. I note that this is probably a recurring theme. "As such, combat is... different. Your abilities have changed more than a bit, so you may find that any strategy different from 'whack enemy with ornate metal' isn't as easy to pull off as it used to be. Would you like me to teach you how to fight here?"
My opponent approaches, ignorant of the oncoming tutorial. "Hey! No cheating!" I shout as I point at the Dogoo. I turn back to Histy and shrug. "Sure, I guess. Couldn't hurt to burn a little time, right?"
Histy floats off to the side of the field again. A picture of my face, looking cheeky and happy, appears in bottom-left corner of my vision. Beside it are two bars: a red and a blue bar, with 20/20 and 2/2 inside each respective bar. "Aw, man! I'm low-tier!" I whine.
"Let's not worry about that for now," she replies. "Those are your HP and SP bars. You're familiar with them - you've had them before, though they were significantly larger. Again, it's not the world we know," she explains. "I won't explain them much because you already know how both of them work. What you don't understand yet is how your equipment and abilities work." Her voice changes and shakes a little. "I know this might sound ridiculous, but I want you to hold out both of your hands in front of you."
I do as she says, with my open palms facing my enemy. "Good," she chimes. "Remember your sword. Focus on it. Even with the limited amount of Shares you have, you should be able to materialize it with the assistance of Omnilium." As she speaks, zeroes and ones spin, shake and disappear in the shape of something like a meter stick before my hands. Before I know it, my katana - the Holy Fang Blade - appears in the air. I catch it before it falls.
"Wonderful!" she calls. "I wouldn't recommend using any skills, as they drain what little of your SP you have very quickly. While your HP bar will likely never increase, your SP will increase as you gain Shares. I can't fight alongside you here quite the same as I could otherwise, but you don't need help with a Dogoo," she explains. "Let the battle begin!"
I draw my blade, discard its sheath and leap into the air. My blade hangs high above my head, waiting to be brought down on the Dogoo that dared knock me down. "Fightin' time!" I cheer and, in a flash, slice clean through the blob of cuteness. It shatters, leaving behind little green zeroes and ones. They float at the point where it fell, seemingly waiting for something. "Experience? I'll, uh, just be taking the ones," I say as I root through the cloud of mostly hollow ovals. When I finish, I quickly summon a new sheath for the Holy Fang Blade on my back, twirl it a few times between my fingers, then slide it into its sheath proudly.
"I can't say I expected a different result," Histy admits from the sidelines as the music she's playing changes yet again. "You may not have gained much from that besides what I told you, but it was an interesting experience. At least your first fight in this world wasn't caused by a snide remark or a silly mistake," she adds.
"First of all, rude," I respond. "Second of all... nah, you're totally right. Onward!" I yell, thrusting my sword to the sky and charging.
![[Image: KBSao70.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/KBSao70.jpg)